Maine Learning Technology Initiative - Historical Context

Historical Context

One of the initial motivators for the MLTI was for students in Maine to be technologically literate. At the time of the initiative, Susan Gendron was the Commissioner of Education for the state of Maine. When asked about the rationale behind the technology initiative, Gendron said “we wanted our students to be among the most tecn savvy in the country. But by ‘tech savvy’ we meant their ability to use computer tools for innovation, creation and problem solving, not their ability to defrag a hard drive or rip a CD”. Governor King stressed that the program was about “learning, not about technology”. King was searching for initiatives that would lead to a dramatic improvement in education. He met with Seymour Papert, an educational technology guru to discuss an increase in student to computer ratios as a means of improving education and the future workforce. Papert is also currently one of the principals for the One Laptop Per Child initiative, which is a Miami-based initiative aiming to create affordable educational devices in the developing world. Papert’s advice was to create a 1-1 ratio of students to computers to maximize technological potential, and the budget surplus provided an avenue to attain that ratio. King also stressed that these computers would address the “Digital Divide”—the divide between those with access to transformational informational technology and those without. The Initiative was proposed as an “equity tool” aimed to service Maine’s diverse demographics—both geographically and socioeconomically.

The Initiative chose to focus their efforts on Middle School because middle level students represented a perfect balance of maturity to take care of the equipment and a youthful curiosity toward school. These students still had malleable attitudes toward learning that could be positively altered. Maine chose to use Apple, Inc. instead of Windows PCs because of the tools that the Macs are equipped with. Susan Gendron went with Apple, Inc. because they wanted a vendor that could help their students and teachers inside and outside of the classroom. Specifically, Gendron was looking to make sure that students and teachers “have the necessary tools for innovation and creativity”. Apple offered a competitive price and became Maine’s top choice to supply the laptops for the Initiative. Within their contract, Apple agreed to provide Maine’s schools with educational software, professional development, technical support, repair and replacement services. Professional development sessions led by Apple staff are scheduled to keep principals and teachers updated on new educational software that is installed on the school computers, and to make sure the staff knows how to use these programs with their students.

To support their 1-1 Model, Maine chose to reference free educational tools such as the Open Educational Resources Commons project, which provides free reusable academic programs. The Open Educational Resources Commons Project provides resources such as classroom management help, career and technical educational resources, and many other free and easy to use teaching and learning content from around the world.

Another goal of the Initiative was to increase the relevancy problem in schools. Computers give students an immediate answer to the question of “When will we ever have to use this?” and provide multiple learning modalities for diverse learners.